Measurement of an athlete's athletic ability has typically been prone to errors and otherwise limited. For example, the 40-yard dash is a timed event that is usually used to measure an athlete's overall speed. Unfortunately, such a measure does not assess the critical skill of quickness in reacting to an event. Moreover, the evaluator usually uses a stopwatch or the like to time the athlete. He or she starts the stopwatch when they first see movement by the athlete and stops the stopwatch when the athlete crosses a line positioned 40-yards from the start. Variations in how and when the evaluator manually starts and stops the stopwatch can seriously compromise the testing results.
Moreover, many athletic performance tests, as well as with most athletic events themselves, requires the athlete to essentially perform two functions. First, detect and react as quickly as possible to some stimulus, such as a visual or auditory signal, and second, perform the athletic feat called on by the test as quickly as possible.
The time it takes to perform the first function is known as the “reaction time,” and the time it takes to perform the second function is referred to herein as the “performance time.” The total time from start to finish of the complete event is known as the “response time,” which is the sum of the “reaction time” and the “performance time.”
It can be appreciated that the traditional stopwatch-type testing of a 40-yard dash only measures an athlete's “performance.” It offers little insight into isolating any weaknesses between an athlete's “reaction time” vs. “performance time.” For example, an athlete that is a very fast runner may have a good “performance time,” but may compromise his or her performance by having a poor “reaction time.” Similarly, slow runners may have incredibly fast “reaction times,” which may make them better candidates for certain athletic events than their faster running, but slower reacting, competitors. Stopwatch times cannot adequately isolate these athletes from the pack.
Systems for testing a person's reaction time have been used with varying degrees of success. In general, these systems have several drawbacks. For example, they are usually not particularly durable or user friendly, thereby limiting their use in some areas such as for on-site athletic performance measurement. Moreover, they tend to be bulky and cannot be easily used to measure a person's reaction time from both hands and feet. Similarly, they are not easily operated as a stand alone device and/or as a device that easily integrates with a computer system, such as a personal computer or the like.